Raise the Hammer

Overstepping his Bounds?

Joe Mancinelli, president of LIUNA, is demanding the resignation of Ward 2 councillor Bob Bratina on the grounds that it's "undemoratic, unethical, and unlawful" for an elected member of city council to negotiate deals with developers to lease office space from the city.

Yes, that would be the same Joe Mancinelli who broke municipal election law by overcontributing to Larry Di Ianni's mayoral campaign, then helped raise funds to pay Di Ianni's legal costs, and then negotiated a secret deal to rent office space to the city at double the going rate.

Ryan McGreal, the editor of Raise the Hammer, lives in Hamilton with his family and works as a programmer, writer and consultant. Ryan volunteers with Hamilton Light Rail, a citizen group dedicated to bringing light rail transit to Hamilton. Ryan writes a city affairs column in Hamilton Magazine, and several of his articles have been published in the Hamilton Spectator. He also maintains a personal website, has been known to share passing thoughts on Twitter and Facebook, and posts the occasional cat photo on Instagram.